Joined: Tue Oct 29, 2002 12:41 pmPosts: 14118Location: From some place in this area...

The Weird Wizardry Of Hermeto Pascoal

Thursday, November 8, 2001

In Brazil, they call Hermeto Pascoal o Bruxo -- "the Sorcerer."

Every culture needs one: the kind of musical shaman who gives the button-down crowd the willies and inspires his fellow musicians to soar off in new directions.

Such figures abound on the American landscape: John Cage in 20th-century new music, Jimi Hendrix in rock, Miles Davis in jazz. Some, such as Hendrix and Miles, manage to achieve commercial success.

Most, however, garner respect from their peers and awe from their devoted fans but remain completely marginal to the market forces that buy music from the artists and sell it to the public.

Pascoal, who makes his first Bay Area appearances in more than a decade at Yoshi's in Oakland, on Tuesday and Wednesday, November 13 and 14, fits that latter description to a T.

The 65-year-old multi-instrumentalist and composer has been compared to such classical giants as Igor Stravinsky and Pierre Boulez, had his music performed by American jazz artists, including Davis, Gil Evans, John McLaughlin and the Bang on a Can All-Stars and served as mentor to the adventuresome Brazilian musicians Milton Nascimento, Jovino Santos Neto and Airto Moreira and Flora Purim.

"The only thing I can add is," says Mike Marshall, the Bay Area mandolinist/guitarist who indulges his passion for Brazilian music in his Choro Famoso band, "I think we should all feel fortunate that we get to live in the same time period as this guy. That's the kind of pedestal I put him on. I can't wait for this guy to show up."

Unforgettable Fire

The last time Pascoal performed in the Bay Area, at the beginning of the 1990s, he led his longstanding ensemble O Grupo into the Great American Music Hall, where a club full of aficionados greeted him with the sort of adulation usually reserved for teen pop idols. He turned the heat up under their hysteria with a set of incendiary offbeat Brazilian jazz that exploded out of the "fusion" label into a category all its own.

If you can imagine a cross between a Miles Davis electric-jazz group, Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention and a Spike Jones band conducted by classical composer Lou Harrison looking like Santa Claus on a big-hair day, you begin to get the idea. There hasn't been anything seen or heard like it hereabouts since.

On this trip, because his band encountered visa snafus in Miami, Pascoal is traveling only with his son. But given Pascoal's one-man-band virtuosity (he plays accordion, piano, electric keyboards, saxophones, trumpet, flutes, tuba, violin, melodica, drums, guitar and miscellaneous percussion instruments and adds idiosyncratic whistling and vocalizations to his music), plus the virtual certainty that Marshall will sit in and the possibility that former O Grupo member Neto will come down from Seattle for the gig, the Yoshi's shows will not be paltry in any ordinary sense of the word.

Hungry Ear

Typicality had never been one of Pascoal's traits. Born June 22, 1936, in the small town of Lagoa de Canoa in northeast Brazil, he took up flute and sanfona (button accordion) as a child and was performing at regional dances at age 11. As his family moved, first to Recife and later to the south of Brazil, Pascoal fed his voracious musical appetite, picking up piano, bass, reeds and more.

After playing in bossa-nova groups in Rio during the early 1960s, he and percussionist Moreira formed Trio Ambraza [sic - Sambrasa Trio], followed by Cuarteto Nuova [sic - Quarteto Novo]. The quartet, which recorded on album in 1967, experimented with combinations of northeastern Brazilian rhythms, 4/4 time and advanced jazz harmonies.

After Moreira left Brazil in 1969 to play with Miles Davis in the US, he sent for Pascoal to join him in NYC. The fruits of his stay included participation in the 1970 Davis recording sessions for Live-Evil, the contribution of two compositions to the date ("Little Church" and "Nem Um Talvez," although the latter is credited to Miles) and the recording of Pascoal's debut album, Hermeto.

Pascoal moved back to Brazil in 1973 and now lives in Rio, but he revisited the US in 1976 to record Slave's Mass, a tour de force that featured jazz bassist Ron Carter, Weather Report drummer Alphonso Johnson and Moreira and Purim.

On Slave's Mass, Pascoal also introduced such exotic musical touches as grunting piglets and whistling teakettles. A later recording, 1983's So Nao Toca Quem Nao Quer (Only If You Don't Want It, You Can't Do It), included snoring, a braying donkey and buzzing bees. Others incorporate audio samples from political speeches and soccer coverage on the radio.

Odd Genius

But despite his prodigious talents and ambitious musical reach (he has composed a piano suite and a "Cartoon Symphony") and the devotion he inspires in his musicians (his bands have been known to rehearse six hours a day, five days a week), Pascoal remains one of the world's best-kept musical secrets.

Some attribute that to the fact that his English was too limited when first he came to the US, so he couldn't effectively capitalize on the record industry's interest in Brazilian music. Some say he simply gives precedence to creating music over recording it. Indeed, Pascoal released only two studio albums in the past decade: Festa dos Deuses (1992) and Eu e Eles (1999).

But the root of Pascoal's obscurity can best be found in the sheer strangeness of his music. This is one weird cat.

Track down a copy of Eu e Eles, on the Brazilian Radio Mec label, and hear how he switches instruments and modi operandi from track to track. He starts off with a classical-piano motif against the dislocated beat of tambourine and follows it with a village-dance ditty with melodica and flutes. He whistles over a martial drum rhythm and gargles over an organ while plinking a triangle. He plays accordion abstractions worthy of Guy Klucevsek and dedicates a wistful jazz piece to Miles Davis but introduces it with a harmonized horn intro reminiscent of Moondog. And he closes with a chorus of what sounds like squeak toys, a tape loop of hoarse dog barks, gurgling water pipes, fl&uumlaut;gelhorn and tuba.

Even stranger, Pascoal isn't going for the cheap laughs with all that novelty. There's genuine genius behind the giggles -- the constantly churning mind of a composer who not only hears the musical potential in every sound but also knows how to organize it into compelling new forms.

Pascoal is an alchemist of the highest degree. He never sticks to same formula, and that makes this multifaceted Merlin eminently unmarketable. But his relentless tinkering brings forth music that is as delightful and consciousness-expanding as it is rare.

Hermeto Pascoal is one of the most colorful Brazilian musicians in a country of colorful musicians - not to mention colorful music. Born in 1936, in the state of Alagoas, he has been performing in public since before he was ten. He was on the radio as a teenager. He plays numerous instruments, composes and arranges, and sings.

He is called a "multi-instrumentalist," a shallow label that just barely scrapes the surface of this deeply inventive and innovative musician who has played all over the world with people like Miles Davis, John Lennon and Tom Jobim. Hermeto is a musician's musician, a creative genius whose music is regional Brazilian and universal at the same time.

Hermeto says he never really gave a lot of thought to the future. Certain that tomorrow would come, he concentrated on living the present to the full. And he did that without rushing things. What he did do was work on his mission: "making music free of adjectives" Hermeto turned 75 last week. Recognized in Brazil and around the world as an icon, he has had a very successful musical mission.

"My desire is to make more music each new day. There will always be a lot that still has to be done, but one thing I will insist on is quality," he says. "In music, quantity cannot substitute quality. The scales don't lie. Each note has to be a good one. I do not compose to please the public. I compose what meets my standards and then I play it for the public."

It should be noted that Hermeto has been known to write pieces that call for live animals - squealing pigs, hens clucking and so forth. He is nothing if not earthy and has also been known to use kitchen utensils and tools to make music. The translation of "music free of adjectives," seems to be something so original that it cannot be classified.

Subverting Logic

Given his unselfish nature and driving desire to see his music performed, it was only natural for Hermeto to be a part of what is known as the Free Culture Movement, a kind of free source, anti-commercial organization opposed to the market logic of record companies and radio stations.

Way back. even before the end of the last century, around 1995, Hermeto stirred up controversy by declaring that he wanted to be "pirated." He said it was the best way to be heard everywhere.

In 2009, he began "liberating" the rights to some 614 compositions that had been recorded on records or CDs. A licensing contract permitting free use of his music can be found at his personal site (www.hermetopascoal.com.br ) that mirrors his own free spirit: it is handwritten by Hermeto himself, addressed to "musicians in Brazil and the world," and ends with a call for everybody to make the best use of his compositions.

"My music belongs to whoever wants it. The idea is to liberate copyrights and let anyone who wants to play my stuff play it," he explains.

Aline Morena, a 32-year-old musician from Rio Grande do Sul, who has lived and worked with Hermeto for the last ten years, after his first wife of 46 years died, says that some recording companies do not accept Hermeto's unique licensing contract. "Their business is red tape. Lots of it. They want a separate, specific contract for each composition. We want to cut the red tape, and let artists come directly to us and get free access. When they go to the recording studios or record companies they have to pay," she explains.

No Fear of Pirates

"If the recording companies do not send my music to radio stations, if my music is not played anywhere, what am I writing music for? I have never had and will never have any financial return on my work. What I have is pleasure, I have joy and that is what I get. Now what I want is for my music to be played.

That is why I want my stuff to be pirated. That way people will play, hear and get to know my work. In my opinion, people who complain about piracy are people who write music only to sell it. The value of my work is not in dollar bills ("notas"), but in musical notes ("notas")," says Hermeto.

According to Aline, out of the 4,000 or so compositions by Hermeto, the vast majority has not been recorded. Some 700 can be found at the composer's site. An additional 41 works, never recorded or performed, have been digitally prepared by the pianist and arranger, Jovino Santos Neto, and made available on the Internet as well.

If someone wants to honor Hermeto Pascoal, he or she can pick out something by the composer and just play it, explains Aline. "The idea seems to be a success. We get e-mails from all over the world."

"And don't forget, I'm still composing," adds Hermeto.

Hermeto Pascoal, long known for his unconventional music and opinions, discussed his ideas about musical education. The multi-instrumentalist, who plays at least ten different instruments, declared that he was self-taught and his music is 99.5% intuitive. He adds that he only learned music theory when he was over 40.

Music is more than those seven notes on the scale, declared Hermeto, who is called things like "genius" and "magus" by other musicians. Music is intuition and that is something that is little recognized in music schools, he went on to say. Hermeto thinks that what he calls "excessive emphasis on standard methods" is only good for some teachers to make a lot of money.

The problem with teaching intuition is that the professors never learned through intuition, according to Hermeto. "So how are they supposed to teach it? A lot of teachers have less musical perception than their students. They have experience, but they do not feel the music, which is what really counts. In fact, they feel very little," declared Hermeto.

"Harmony is the mother of music and sensibility is more important than technique and real talent is having good taste in music. Music schools only make money, they don't really teach music," added Hermeto.

According to official numbers from Central de Apoio às Escolas de Música, there are 6,120 schools of music in Brazil with 294,610 students enrolled.

Hermeto says he has plans to set up his own music school. It will be called Templo do Som (Temple of Sound). It will emphasize the multidisciplinary character of music, something he does in his compositions that vary in style from Brazilian regional (samba, bossa nova, forró, choro, baião, rasta pé, etc) to jazz to pop to classical.

"The world is mathematical. The mathematics of God. Not this premeditated math they have out there, with 'to know' in front of 'to feel.' The math I'm talking about is the engineering math that ants use to build an anthill, without a blueprint, and birds use when they sing everyday at the same time, without a clock telling them the time."Note: Hermeto can be seen and heard on YouTube. Recordings are also available through Google - just type in his name.

Translated by Allen Bennett, translator/editor of The News in English.

Probably shoulda read this thread back when it started 5 years ago.....!!......but I'm new to Hermeto: anyone able to suggest an apprpriate first album or two to get started with? My only exposure to him would be Miles' Live Evil disc.

Joined: Tue Oct 29, 2002 12:41 pmPosts: 14118Location: From some place in this area...

The Best Thing on the Internet Today: Hermeto Pascoal

Hey, did you hear? YouTube got a redesign and from what I’ve read, the only visible difference to the uninitiated is that it’s “more grey.” I’ve been scouring the site all day, and it seems that reports are correct–it is greyer. And more funny. Did you improve your content YouTube? I found a trillion videos that made me giggle today.

But how to choose just one? I went with my gut (literally), with the video that gave me the most IRL LOLs, with the video that gave me the most delight. Hermeto Pascoal is something of an eccentric legend in Brazil, an albino experimental folk musician with a particular love for natural instruments. His “Musica da Lagoa” speaks for itself: “Hermeto and O Grupo playing the music of the heavens with flutes and bottles in a lake.” Wow.

Try out Flora Purim, an old album called ;Open your eyes You can Fly Hemeto does some great work on it, on some tunes he plays 7-up bottles!, George Duke is on it, also Ron Carter plays bass and that includes electric bass !

_________________A government Bureau is the closest thing to eternal life on earth that you will ever see

Try out Flora Purim, an old album called ;Open your eyes You can Fly Hemeto does some great work on it, on some tunes he plays 7-up bottles!, George Duke is on it, also Ron Carter plays bass and that includes electric bass !

_________________I love monstermovies..and the cheaper they are the better they are.

I also think it sounds like Alphonso playing bass on the title cut. But it is interesting Ron carter plays on the album and plays electric bass on some of it, which is rare. Ron is known for his acoustic work. Check out floras web site she tells about coming to NYC in the 60's.

_________________A government Bureau is the closest thing to eternal life on earth that you will ever see

Yes it's rare that Ron plays electric bass. I am only aware he played it on "Miles in the Sky" and some titles in this Flora's album.

BRAVO SIERRA wrote:

I also think it sounds like Alphonso playing bass on the title cut. But it is interesting Ron carter plays on the album and plays electric bass on some of it, which is rare. Ron is known for his acoustic work. Check out floras web site she tells about coming to NYC in the 60's.

_________________I love monstermovies..and the cheaper they are the better they are.

Joined: Tue Oct 29, 2002 12:41 pmPosts: 14118Location: From some place in this area...

The famous track Tacho (Mixing Pot) from Slaves Mass (Missa dos Escravos) has also an amazing bass performance by Alphonzo on electric. I used to think it was Ron Carter since he plays on other tracks on this album.

_________________The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true Art and Science. - Albert Einstein

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